Shloka 4
Matsya Purana — Narasimha’s Victory over Hiraṇyakaśipu and the Catalogue of Apocalyptic Omens
द्विजिह्वका वक्रशीर्षास् तथोल्कामुखसंस्थिताः महाग्राहमुखाश्चान्ये दानवा बलदर्पिताः //
dvijihvakā vakraśīrṣās tatholkāmukhasaṃsthitāḥ mahāgrāhamukhāścānye dānavā baladarpitāḥ //
Some Dānavas were double-tongued; some had twisted heads; others had faces set like blazing meteors; and still others bore the mouths of gigantic crocodiles—Dānavas made arrogant by their own strength.
FAQs
This verse does not describe Pralaya directly; it focuses on the fearsome forms of Dānavas, using vivid bodily imagery to communicate their destructive, chaotic nature—an atmosphere often associated with cosmic disorder in Purāṇic storytelling.
Indirectly, it functions as a warning motif: beings ‘arrogant with strength’ (bala-darpita) represent the dangers of unchecked power. In Purāṇic ethics, a king’s duty is to restrain such violent forces and to avoid the same arrogance through dharma-guided rule.
No Vāstu or ritual procedure is stated here. The primary significance is iconographic and literary: it supplies visual markers (meteor-face, crocodile-mouth, twisted head) that later Purāṇic and artistic traditions use when depicting demonic classes.